The prospects of a journey to Mars just got a whole lot more fascinating after NASA’s announcement that the red planet is not the arid and dry places we once thought it was.
Scientists have found evidence of a briny liquid flowing during the Martian summer.
Tim O’Brien, Professor of astrophysics at The University of Manchester, explains why finding liquid water on Mars is such an important discovery and what it means:
“This is a truly exciting discovery. We have known there are features on the planet which suggest flowing material. What we were not sure about was whether this was water.
“NASA has now studied the signature of this material and they can see that it looks like briny water. This is good evidence that there is water involved.
“What they don’t know is where the water is coming from. Is it seeping up to mix with salts on the surface to make the briny water? Or it this water coming from the atmosphere, as it does on Earth?
“The really interesting thing is what this means for life on Mars. Millions of years ago conditions on Mars were similar to what we have on Earth now.
“The presence of liquid water increases the possibility that there could be some microbial life forms still on the planet. But in itself it is not evidence for life.
“All life as we know it needs water, now we have found water on Mars there could be life. They have found a key prerequisite for life but not life itself.”
